The Minstrel's Tale

by Berit Haahr

A rollicking adventure set in medieval England about a heroine who refuses to live by other people's rules.

Judith of Nesscliffe is 13 years old and her stepfather thinks it's time she married. Her future husband is at least 30 years older than she is and already has five daughters--some of them older than Judith. Now he wants a son and heir. Judith has other ideas. Wearing boys' clothing to disguise herself, Judith becomes Jude and runs away from home. With only a falcon for company, she sets out on a 150-mile journey to join the King's Minstrels. Along the way, she is attacked by thieves and forced to defend herself against the advances of a young woman who thinks that "Jude" would make an ideal husband. But she also finds her own true love as well as a way to live the life she chooses.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Medieval, Historical

247 pages, Hardcover

First published August 8, 2000

About the author

Berit Haahr is a writer and a teacher who lives in Pennsylvania. She hopes someday to learn to play the harp.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's ok but the end came too fast. It's like the author ran out of paper and had to write a quick and dirty ending.

[Eva Sirois · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I would like to say that I was fully enraptured in this book from the beginning. Judith was a likable character, and I was swept up into her tale of wanting to be a minstrel despite the fact that she was to marry a terrible man at thirteen years of age. While this story is good for a younger audience, I was still able to enjoy it and enjoy the characters in it, like Gwynn and Abbott Simeon. I loved hearing about the scraps Jude got into, like trying to avoid Christina's love and her fight with Smithy. This entire two-hundred page journey of Jude's to get to Kent to become one of the King's Minstrels was so interesting and great, that I feel personally betrayed by how the book turned out.

A lot of this book felt like it was setting up for further adventures. Goodwife Middy told Jude that it was written in the stars that she would get to Kent, and it seems we barely scratched the surface of that character. Christina vowed revenge upon Jude - "Lord Stephen" - for embarrassing her. The last we heard of Smithy was that he was incredibly ill due to Goodwife Middy's herbs, and we never found out Abbott Simeon's reaction - whether he was appalled by "Stephen's" behaviour, whether he understood, etc.

All of these adventure took place over almost two hundred pages. Jude's time at Kent covered forty-five pages, when in reality it should have been another book entirely. The lovable character Robin - who we meet at the beginning of the book - is back, and we hear a lot from Jude about her feelings for him, which I hardly think are deserved considering his presence in these forty-five pages are sparse. Jude is relentlessly bullied by Gilbert and his cronies, and the one time that she did fight back she was immediately taken down, and her fear at being discovered as a girl overcame her causing her to start thinking about leaving.

While these are obstacles that should be overcome, they were not. This girl spent a year traveling miles upon miles to achieve her dream of being a minstrel and play for the king, facing danger at every turn, and meeting so many new people, only to give up once she is finally there? Jude's journey would not have been possible if it wasn't for so many incredible characters helping her at every turn, and yet there are people at Kent that would help her, but she doesn't allow them the chance. The few characters at Kent that became her friends, like Lord William's daughter Isabel and Jankin, even mention that people like Lord William are concerned about her and how she's changed, but she doesn't allow herself the chance that it could get better. This girl even played for King Edward and won his approval!

In my opinion, this should have been a trilogy. The first book would be her adventures, the second book her time at Kent, and the third book of her adventures as a fully fledged minstrel, and as a King's Agent. In the beginning of the book, Robin mentions offhanded that King's Minstrels can also act as spies, and I was excited for that to come back in the book, and for Jude to face new and familiar characters as a minstrel in the service of the King.

The entire romance with Robin was incredibly rushed. All we know about him is what we learned from the scene at the beginning of the book, where they first met, and then that he a Master minstrel teaching classes at Kent. Other than that, it's all about how Jude blushes and gets embarrassed, and how she can't stop thinking of him and the few times he's touched her. The marriage proposal at the end of the book and their plan to run away felt like it was written on the back of napkin. This entire book leading up to that ending feels like a cruel joke, and I'm angry that it ended like that.

This book reminded me heavily of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong, which has a similar storyline except it's set in the fictional world of Pern. In places I was also reminded of Tamora Pierce's The Song of the Lioness Quartet, and in the beginning of Jane Eyre.

This book gets three stars because I did love the first two hundred pages, but my anger at the ending of this book docked two stars off. I apologize for the long rant, but I feel like this book had so much potential to be a strong, transformative journey that young girls would love and look up to Jude, but the ending was terrible and rushed that I felt betrayed.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable historical novel. It blended medieval English history with coming of age lessons and the journey of self-discovery to make an interesting and well-balanced reading experience. I liked Jude as the main female protagonist and thought that the author did a good job of showing her growth into young adulthood in a mature and believable manner. A fast and satisfying read. 3.75 stars.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot when I was younger, but now I just can’t get over how young Jude is and how old Robin is by comparison.

[SBC · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out as quite a good read. The historical setting was interesting, but the story had many inconsistencies and things I found unconvincing. There were a lot of loose ends and some incongruities in this novel. Judith of Nesscliff is thirteen; since her invalid mother remarried her deceased husband's brother when Juliet was younger she has lived at a nunnery where they were pretty strict but not too bad. Now her yucky uncle wants her to marry a lecherous old man. She is a very talented musician, and when a minstrel at her betrothal feast gives her the idea of going to the minstrel college near London she decides to disguise herself as a boy and go. Her sister is nice, she is married to a nice boy and so can't understand why Judith would be unhappy to marry but helps her leave. On her journey Jude meets a wise woman in the forest who helps her out with a sort of mystical attitude; then she is robbed and left for dead by a blacksmith. A man picks her up and she ends up staying with her old schoolfriend, whom she was very close to. She pretends to be her deceased brother, Stephen. Her friend is happily married to a nice boy too; the only problem is his sister, beautiful and determined to be in control of her marriage, so she climbs into bed with 'Stephen' and is very angry to find a girl. Her promise of vengeance is one of those loose ends. Jude eventually reaches the minstrel school where one of her teachers is to become her future husband. Robin knows as soon as he sees her who she is but just treats her like one of the boys and doesn't try to help her out really when one of the other boys Gilbert and his friends really start picking on her and beating her up. But at the end it turns out he is now the heir to a small holding (nobility) and wants her to marry him and loved her all along. When did this come on? Why was there no hint of it before? It was an okay read but spoiled by these inconsistencies. However, the historical setting was interesting, esp how young people married, and her falcon Percival was a nice addition.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Born into a noble family in 14th century England, Judith was sent to be educated at a convent after the death of her father and her mother's remarriage. Now thirteen, Judith has been summoned home by her stepfather becuase he feels it is time she got married. He arranges a marriage for her to an repulsive old widower with five daughters, some of whom are older than Judith. She has always longed to use her musical talent. So she cuts of her long hair, dresses in some of her dead brother's clothes, and assumes of the name of "Jude." Her destination: Eltham Palace, where she hopes to become one of the King's Minstrels. Along the way, she faces many dangers, including persuit by her stepfather, thieves, and the danger of discovery. But if she survives and completes her journey, the potential rewards could be greater than the perils. This was an exciting adventure story filled with details of life in Medeival England and featuring as its heroine a brave, resourceful girl determined to shape her own future.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book when I was younger (probably 14 or so) and really enjoyed it, but I do remember several things that bothered me. First, I'm never crazy about that storyline used so often in tales of crossdressing where an unsuspecting bystander falls for a person of the same gender (oh no! anything but that!). It's a situation that's supposed to make you squirm in your seat and ends up being used as a cheap heteronormative laugh. Sorry, not laughing. Second, the ending/romance (I think it was supposed to be romantic, Judith finding the minstrel who had inspired her to run away) is all to abrupt and not terribly convincing. After all those road adventures and mishaps, I don't believe the idea of a smooth happily-ever-after. Obviously these things bothered me enough that I still remember them over ten years later. All of this said, I did still like this book a lot as a young teen, but I don't think it would be a favorite anymore.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was young, I read this book several times. It was one of the only books I can ever remember re-reading. I still remember so much of the story, and I have so many fond memories of it. :) I'd love to read it again.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for a young female audience. The main part of the story focuses on a girl's journey to independence. There's not a lot of character or scene development, but it moves quickly. The ending is also kind of abrupt.

[Kelly R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was really young, I remember loving it then, but I don't know If I still love it. I'll read it again =D

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story but the ending felt rushed.

[KaDee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, but I thought that the ending was really abrupt.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[LeAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A first novel that is a bit modern in its viewpoint for the 14th century.